Gould - Mental Health Social Work in Context

Mental Health Social Work in Context

This new edition of Mental Health Social Work in Context continues to be an authoritative, evidence-based introduction to a core area of the social work curriculum.

Grounded in the social models of mental health particularly relevant to qualifying social workers, but also familiarising students with social aspects of medical perspectives, this core text helps to prepare students for practice and to develop their knowledge around:

promoting the social inclusion of people with mental health problems,

the changing context of multidisciplinary mental health services,

an integrated evidence base for practice, and

working with people with mental health problems across the life course.

In this new edition the author has reflected on the impact of the global recession and austerity policies, both on the mental health of the population but also the much sharper conditions and reduced services within which social workers are now operating.

This fully updated second edition is an essential textbook for all social work students taking undergraduate and postgraduate qualifying degrees, and will also be invaluable for practitioners undertaking post-qualifying awards in mental health social work.

Nick Gould is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of Bath. He has been involved in mental health social work for over thirty years, initially as a local authority social worker, then as a senior social worker at Broadmoor Hospital, before embarking on an academic career. He continues to sit as a specialist lay member of the Mental Health Tribunal.

Student Social Work

This exciting new textbook series is ideal for all students studying to be qualified social workers, whether at undergraduate or masters level. Covering key elements of the social work curriculum, the books are accessible, interactive and thought-provoking.

New titles

Human Growth and Development

John Sudbery

Social Work Placements

Mark Doel

Social Work

A reader

Viviene E. Cree

Sociology for Social Workers and Probation Officers

Viviene E. Cree

Integrating Social Work Theory and Practice

A practical skills guide

Pam Green Lister

Social Work, Law and Ethics

Jonathan Dickens

Becoming a Social Worker, 2nd ed.

Global narratives

Viviene E. Cree

Social Work and Social Policy, 2nd ed.

An introduction

Jonathan Dickens

Mental Health Social Work in Context, 2nd ed.

Nick Gould

Forthcoming titles

Social Work with Children and Young people, their Families and Carers

Janet Warren

Mental Health Social Work in Context

Second Edition

Nick Gould

Second edition published 2016

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2016 N. Gould

The right of Nick Gould to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Routledge 2010

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Gould, Nick, author.

Title: Mental health social work in context / Nick Gould.

Other titles: Student social work.

Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York,

NY : Routledge, [2016] |

Series: Student social work | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015047114 | ISBN 9781138905672 (hbk) | ISBN 9781138905719 (pbk) | ISBN 9781315695785 (ebk)

Subjects: | MESH: Social Work, Psychiatric

Classification: LCC HV689 | NLM WM 30.5 | DDC 362.2/0425dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047114

ISBN: 978-1-138-90567-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-90571-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-69578-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Times

by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton

To Hilary (again)

Contents

This is the second edition of Mental Health Social Work in Context, and once again, it is intended to be a core textbook for both undergraduate and postgraduate social work students as well as social workers who are preparing to become Approved Mental Health Professionals. As with the first edition, the intention is to provide an evidence-based guide to practice which is located within a wider view of the social and policy context of practice. As well as incorporating updates in the evidence base, it reflects the significant shifts which have taken place since I was writing the 2010 edition, both within the social sciences and the political and economic climate within which mental services operate. In the social sciences it could be argued that there is a re-emergence of interest in the dynamics of social class and inequality (e.g. Piketty 2014; Atkinson 2015; Savage 2015), which is not surprising given the continuing fallout of the global financial crisis of 2008. As the early chapters of this book reflect, a society in which the gradient of inequality is steepening and increasing numbers of people lead economically insecure, precarious lives is a society which is increasingly toxic for mental health, reflected in worsening levels of mental distress and suicide (in 20082010, there were an estimated additional 1000 extra male suicides and an additional 30,00040,000 suicide attempts in Britain, reversing the trend of falling suicide rates, with debt, austerity, and unemployment cited as causal factors (Gunnell et al. 2015). It is estimated that between 2010 and 2013 there were 590 extra suicides, and 279,000 more cases of self-reported mental health problems linked to tougher fit-for-work tests to assess eligibility for disability benefits (Barr et al. 2015).

The first edition reflected much of the optimism in the UK resulting from programmes of modernisation for mental health services such as the National Service Frameworks for Mental Health and the creation of leadership agencies such as the National Institute for Mental Health England. Although since the 2010 first edition policy-makers have continued to espouse parity of esteem for mental health services with physical health services, the dominant direction of policy has been the imposition of austerity in public services and overall decline in the level of provision for those in mental distress, despite some innovations such as programmes to improve access to talking therapies. Thus, the need for mental health social work remains critical if the social aspects of mental distress are to be addressed. As in the first edition, the second edition is premised on a conviction that social work makes a vital contribution to services for people with mental health problems, but it has been written with an awareness that in many parts of the profession there are significant anxieties about the capacity of social work to sustain its identity and distinct contribution in the context of rapidly changing contexts of practice. There remain particular concerns about the (dis)integration of health and social care services and the location of social work within multidisciplinary structures where social work is the minority player and is heavily outnumbered by medical and ancillary professionals. Consequently, one purpose in writing this book was to delineate the changing context of practice, describing the policy environment that is shaping these changes, the implications for interventions to support people with mental health problems, and in particular the relevance of all this for the role of the social worker.